Sediment input changes in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea after the damming of the Nile

Type:

Internship position (12 ECTS)

programme:

EMBC+

The Eastern Mediterranean Sea has experienced two major human-induced changes in its ecosystem: the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the damming of the Nile in the 1960s. The damming of the Nile in particular reduced the input of sediment and nutrients in the basin, reducing sedimentation rates and leading the basin to ultra-oligotrophic conditions. In the context of the project “Historical ecology of Lessepsian migration” (http://www.univie.ac.at/lessepsian/index.html), this internship will focus on the analysis of sediment cores collected off Israel to determine changes in sediment type in time.
Students will quantify sediment grain size and analyze its variation down-core (that is, back in time).
Because of the large project in which this internship takes place, data will be available to better put into context the observations on core sediment types and relate them to major abiotic and biotic changes in the basin.